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EDITORIALS

october 26, 2013 vol xlviII no 43 EPW Economic & PoliticalWeekly8

It is too early to resort to self-congratulation. Just because

this time around, early warning systems kicked in and over

nine lakh people were evacuated to shelters before tropical

cyclone Phailin hit the coasts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha on

12 October, one cannot assume that finally, crucial lessons in

disaster management have been learnt in India. While it is true

that the local administration and the state governments in

Odisha and Andhra Pradesh did respond by the book, and had

put in place basic infrastructure such as cyclone shelters to

deal with the crisis, this still remains the exception and not the

rule. One only has to recall what happened in Uttarakhand

in June when torrential rain and flash floods swept away

villages and killed an estimated 580 people (although over

5,000 are still missing). In that instance too, as this time, the

meteorological department had prior information of unusually

heavy rains. Yet no action was taken to prevent pilgrims from

venturing into areas that are known to be prone to flash floods

and landslides. Instead, the administration rushed aroundtrying to cope with a disaster that brutally exposed its lack of

preparedness.

Disaster management began to be taken seriously in India only

after the 2004 tsunami hit its coasts leaving in its wake wide-

spread destruction and death. In 2005, the Disaster Management

Act was brought in, leading to the creation of a National Disaster

Management Authority (NDMA) in 2006, headed by the prime

minister. Each state was also required to have a similar authority.

In addition, a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was created

to assist state governments dealing with a natural disaster. In

fact, if you read the documents explaining Indias disaster

response system, you would find little that is wrong with it.

India is one of the most disaster-prone areas in the world with

60% of its landmass prone to earthquakes, 40 million hectares

vulnerable to flooding, 8% of its land area exposed to cyclones

and 68% of the land liable to be affected by drought. Despite

this, the NDMAhas not yet prepared a vulnerability atlas that

maps all such areas in specific detail so that steps to mitigate

natural calamities can be put in place before disaster strikes.

Possibly the very idea of a national disaster management

agency is a problem because it tends to make state governments

take their own responsibility less seriously. Yet, as is evident

from the example of Odisha, the key people when disastersstrike are district administrators and only after that state and

central government personnel. Preparedness must begin at the

district and even panchayat level. This is the point at which

there is constant failure. Once the calamity strikes, even the

most efficient national system cannot be adequate to deal

with the disaster, given the size of this country and the logistics

of reaching help to distant locations. So even if Odisha, which

experienced a worse cyclone in 1999 that led to almost 10,000

deaths, has learnt some lessons and put in place response meas-

ures at the district level, this is not true for other states.

Secondly, although cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis, or even

droughts and floods cannot be averted, there are many steps to

mitigate natural disasters that can be taken. With the advent

of climate change, the incidence of extreme weather events

will increase. The only way round is to take steps to minimise

the impact of these occurrences. For example, earthquake-

prone zones have to make building codes mandatory and

ensure that infrastructure and other developmental works do

not stress the natural fragility of the region. In all hill areas

there have been gross violations of such norms, not least inthe Uttarakhand.

It is also well known that the impact of cyclones and tsunamis

can be checked to some extent if mangroves along the coasts are

not disturbed as they act as shock absorbers. Yet, many state

governments wilfully ignore this fact as they allow industrial

and urban development to deliberately or accidentally destroy

these precious natural buffers. Disaster mitigation has to be

woven into developmental policy. It can never be an add-on. It is

part of the approach of environmentally sustainable develop-

ment. Yet, in India, there is plenty of lip service paid to these

concepts, including in official government documentation, and

yet policy decisions pay little heed to them. The hand wringing

after a calamity does not result in a decisive change of direction

in developmental policy.

And finally, the main challenge of relief and rehabilitation

still remains. In Odisha alone, according to the government,

over 2,00,000 houses and an equivalent number of hectares of

agricultural land have been damaged. Lakhs of people have lost

their means of l ivelihood. To get these people, whose lives were

saved because of timely evacuation, on their feet again is an

even more daunting task than the important emergency inter-

vention on the night the cyclone hit the coast. So the response to

the Odisha cyclone suggests that some lessons have been learnt,but to have an effective disaster management plan in place,

there are many more steps that must be taken.

Lessons Cyclones Teach

There is much that still remains to be understood about disaster management.